June 10, 2005
Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-4769)
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
STATUS REPORT: SS05-028
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS05-028
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Expedition 11 crew
is spending the latter part of its second month in space preparing
for the arrival of new cargo. The Station commander quietly slipped
into second place on the all time human space endurance list.
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and astronaut John Phillips conducted
scientific research this week, while troubleshooting the station's
oxygen generator, stowing trash and other unneeded items into the
Progress supply spacecraft for disposal next week.
Krikalev, on his sixth voyage into space and fourth long duration
mission (two on Mir and two on the ISS), surpassed fellow cosmonaut
Valery Polyakov on the space duration record list. He will become
number one in August, passing cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev (747 days).
This afternoon, the Station passed over the Gulf of Mexico offering
flight controllers an opportunity to capture video of Arlene, the
Atlantic hurricane season's first tropical storm, as it tracked
northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.
During the week, Krikalev swapped the large liquid unit component in
the Station's Elektron oxygen generation unit in preparation for an
attempt in two weeks to restore its use. New filters for its gas
lines will arrive aboard the next Progress cargo spacecraft late next
week. They will be installed before the crew attempts to reactivate
the unit.
In the meantime, the crew continues to replenish the cabin atmosphere
daily using two solid fuel oxygen generation canisters. The canisters
introduce oxygen into the pressurized compartment by a chemical
process. A plentiful supply of canisters is on board the Station, and
more will arrive on the next supply ship June 18.
The onboard supply combined with future shipments can provide oxygen
for the crew until at least January 2006, even without use of the
Elektron. New Elektron components and spare parts are planned for
delivery aboard supply spacecraft later this year.
Phillips put on his customized Lycra cycling tights this week for his
second session of the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Spaceflight
(FOOT) experiment. FOOT investigates the differences between use of
the body’s lower extremities on Earth and in space, and changes in
the musculoskeletal system during spaceflight.
Phillips wore the instrumented Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit, which
measured his joint angles, muscle activity and forces on the feet
during a typical day on the Station. FOOT could help explain the
reasons for bone and muscle loss during spaceflight and aid in the
design of exercise countermeasures. This experiment also has
significance for understanding, preventing and treating osteoporosis
on Earth.
Focused human physiological and biological Space Station research on
astronaut health and the development of countermeasures to protect
crews from the space environment will allow for long duration
missions to explore beyond low Earth orbit.
Early next week, the crew will wrap up stowage of trash and unneeded
equipment in the Progress docked to the Station, prior to its
undocking Wednesday. The Progress departure clears the docking port
on the aft end of the Zvezda module for the arrival of the next
supply craft. The next Progress is scheduled to launch June 16 and
dock the evening of June 18. NASA TV will cover the arrival live.
This will be the 18th Progress to dock with the Station.
For NASA TV schedules and information on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
The crew is scheduled for a light duty weekend, including routine
housekeeping tasks and family conferences. Information about the
crew’s activities aboard the Station, future launch dates, previous
status reports and sighting opportunities, are available on the
Internet at:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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